Naruto the Uzumaki Knight
by Akira.Kyuuketsuki
Summary: Sarutobi decides that the best thing for young Naruto is to leave with his old pupil, what will happen now that Naruto's past is different, what will change, what will remain, and is that a romance I smell?
1. Chapter 1

** Hey everyone this is my first fanfic ever, i hope you guys enjoy it and support me !**

**This story features a relatively smarter Naruto (he was just too big an idiot before shippuden), they'll be a lot of canon but a lot of changes as well so keep an open mind and if there is something you don't like don't just downvote PM me with a comment telling me what you didn't like ! Any input is valuable so have fun reading and peace out !**

Naruto had always been alone, but it didn't bother him, everyone looked at him with such menace that he would instinctively run away from them, but what more could you do when you were only five years old. He didn't even understand why everyone hated him, they just did, try as hard as he could, he couldn't remember anything he had done to deserve being punished. It was a sad world and he was already tired of living in it...

Naruto had just been thrown out of the orphanage, it was the middle of winter and snowing despite the usual warmth Konoha displayed, even in winter. He sat outside, shivering and cold, he had long ago given up banging on the door, he wanted to cry but something within him told him not to.  
"I won't give them the satisfaction" he said to himself. "I'll just have to find somewhere else to go." He slowly got up and looked around, no one was around, which was probably a good thing. Naruto had long since learned that it was a bad idea for him to be out after dark, evil people roamed the streets after nightfall. He tried to think of someone he could go to, at first he thought of Choji and Shikamaru, they were his friends after all, he talked to them and watched clouds, Choji even shared some snacks with him sometimes, but Naruto had no idea where they lived and he knew he couldn't ask anyone.  
"Jiji-san!" A young Naruto exclaimed and ran off towards the hokage building.

"Hokage-sama." an anbu appeared in front of Sarutobi who was quietly sitting at his desk working. The anbu wore a black jumpsuit with silver armor plating, his mask was that of a fox, although many people thought the anbu constantly switched masks in order to further hide their identity.  
"What is it now?" Sarutobi was not in a pleasant mood, he had hoped to finish all his work before going home and enjoying Christmas evening.  
"It's Naruto." Suddenly a fire lit deep within Sarutobi's eyes, if anything happened to Minato's son he would never live it down.  
"It appears the orphanage has thrown him out, one of my contacts is following him, it appears he plans on coming here." Few can remember Sarutobi's anger, but the anbu agent in front of him trembled in fear as a killing intent washed over him. It was not easy to unnerve an agent of anbu.  
"THAT BITCH!" Sarutobi shouted out. He pinched the bridge of his nose in thought, what would he do with Naruto now, the orphanage was no longer safe, the harpy would probably just throw him out again, or treat him so badly Naruto would just leave. Bring him here now, I'll talk to him. The anbu shunshin'd away and Sarutobi turned to look out across the village. "Minato, what can i do? The village hates him for no other reason than the Kyuubi, where would he be safe." The answer slowly came to him. "But is that wise."

Naruto was slowly making his way through the empty streets, quiet as a mouse he could feel someone watching him but couldn't see them. Whenever he looked around the streets were empty, everyone was inside celebrating something.  
"I never get to have fun." Naruto could feel the tears swelling up inside. "No, no no, I must not cry." He shook his small head and continued walking, although his pace had slowed to a crawl, he felt sick and hungry and cold, he just wanted to crawl up into a ball and die, just as he was about to do that he bumped into someone.  
"I'm sorry, please don't hurt me, I'll be more careful just don't hit me." The poor five year old finally broke out in tears. The anbu stood there unsure of what to do, he slowly reached out his hand and patted Naruto on the shoulder.  
"Hey Naruto."  
"I said I'm sorry, please don't hurt me."  
"I'm not going to hurt you silly, I'm here to take you to the Hokage, he wants to talk with you, says he misses you." Naruto still sniffling and crying a bit, looked up at the anbu, the fox mask looked cool on him and his long spiky white hair made him even cooler.  
"Are you a ninja?"  
"I am see, this mask means I'm ANBU, a special type of ninja sent out on really important missions, that means that the Hokage thought it was really important for me to come get you." He left out the part where he had volonteered to watch over him whenever he could.  
"OK, let's go." Sniffed the young Naruto and followed the white haired anbu towards the Hokage's office.

A few minutes later Sarutobi heard someone knock on his door.  
"Come in." He said, just loud enough to be heard, in came the fox masked anbu followed closely by the small Naruto. "Ah Naruto, it's good to see you!"  
"Hey Jiji-san."  
"Naruto is it true the matron from the orphanage threw you out?" He nodded unable to speak for fear of crying. "Well, I'll be having some serious words with her and she will be in a lot of trouble." The anbu behind Naruto swallowed silently, he really didn't want to be in her shoes right now. "But I guess you can't go back to the orphanage."  
"Where will I go?"  
"Well I thought for a moment of getting you your own place, but it seems you have a knack for walking into trouble, and thought it would be safer for you maybe to go a trip with someone for a while, you know like a holiday out of Konoha until you are older." The anbu was slightly surprised by this but didn't let it show.  
"Who will I be going with?" asked Naruto, now excited at the thought of having an adventure.  
"He will be arriving early tomorrow morning, I sent an urgent message to him and he said he would be back as soon as possible. In the mean time, I have so much work I don't think I'll be going home so you can stay here for the night, is that all right with you Naruto?" Naruto nodded and thanked him, then turned around to the anbu.  
"Thank you anbu-san." The anbu smiled behind his mask and gave him a mock bow.  
"It was a pleasure Naruto-san, now a young boy like you should get some rest don't you think."  
"HAI!" Naruto shouted out, nearly deafening the anbu and the Hokage. The anbu quickly found a blanket and Naruto lay down on the couch near the Hokage's desk. In a matter of seconds he was out cold.  
"Thank you for watching over him Kakashi."  
"It's the least I could do, in memory of his father." Sarutobi seemed surprised that Kakashi knew who Naruto's father was, after all it was a SS-rank secret.  
"How did you figure it out?" he asked Kakashi  
"I trained under his father, they look exactly alike, the question is how come no one else has figured it out?" Sarutobi laughed.  
"Because unlike you and me, the others don't see past the Kyuubi within him. They don't even see him as human, when in fact he is more human than any of the monstrous adults who mistreated him."  
"I have a question Hokage-sama."  
"Go ahead."  
"Who is the one coming to get him?"  
"None other than his godfather."  
"You mean..."  
"The one and the same."  
"Is that wise, you know of his... habits." Once again Sarutobi laughed.  
"I'm sure he'll be able to hold back for a bit and only time will tell if what I did was right."

Early in the morning a white haired man walked through gates of Konoha, his sandles barely making a noise as he strolled over the guard house, his red jacket ruffling slightly in the breeze.  
"Excuse me, I was told I had to report in with the Hokage." The guardsmen were dumbfounded, staring at the living legend in front of them. After a moment one of them finally managed to speak.  
"Yes, I believe you know your way to the Hokage's office?"  
"Yes, and please don't stare like that. It's weird." And off he went. The guardsman who had spoken turned to his comrade.  
"Was that really who I think it was?"  
"No mistaking, that was definitely Jiraiya." They both turned their heads just to see him walking away.  
"Wow." They said in unison.

"Hey sensei how's it going?" He burst into the office only to find his sensei with his head on the desk, sleeping. A small blond boy with a brush and ink was preparing to draw on his face. When Jiraiya burst in the small had stopped, completely still, the brush only inches away from the old man's face.  
"What are you doing kid? That's the third Hokage, not some random old man."  
"I know, he's the third Hokage, but he takes things so seriously I thought this would make him laugh." Jiraiya knew that he shouldn't but couldn't help but laugh, this kid was gold, pure gold.  
"Well if you're going to pull a prank you have to do it properly. Come on I'll teach you something.

When Sarutobi finally awoke it was to witness both Jiraiya and Naruto giggling wildly while pointing at his face.  
"Naruto what did you do now?" He got up and took a step forward only to fall face first onto a small bowl full of ink that had been carefully laid out, his feet had been tied to his chair. Sarutobi's blood boiled and he shouted out. "NARUTO!"  
"And you thought that helping him would be a good idea?" The third Hokage questioned his pupil.  
"Well... yeah." Sarutobi had spent nearly half an hour getting all the ink off his face, and was now in a very bad mood.  
"The reason I called you here was so that you could look after Naruto, but now I don't think that's such a good idea anymore."  
"In truth sensei, why did you even consider it, you know I'm always away on my business." He said with a quick side glance to Naruto. "Not exactly optimal for watching him here."  
"That's why you would be taking him with you." Jiraiya was stunned for a moment, it would be incredibly difficult to raise a kid, he didn't know how in the first place let alone do it alongside all the rest of his work, but when he looked at the kid and saw how Naruto was staring intently at his ninja tools he briefly saw Minato.  
"On one condition." Jiraiya said in a serious tone. This intrigued Sarutobi, it wasn't every day his pupil could be serious.  
"And what is that?"  
"I am allowed to train him to be a ninja and in a couple of years he'll join the academy." Sarutobi thought about it for a moment, training with Jiraiya would be no easy feat. But, Naruto would go strong from it and be able to become a ninja, just like his father, maybe even as successful as his father who was also trained by Jiraiya.  
"If I say yes then I too must lay down a condition."  
"And what is that?"  
"No ecchi stuff, no peeping, no women, no nothing." Jiraiya looked as if someone had just sentenced him to death.  
"You've got to be joking. No way." Naruto gently tugged on Jiraiya's sleeve.  
"Will you really teach me to be a ninja?" His eyes shone and a part of the Sage's heart melted away. He sighed and clenched his teeth.  
"I will accept then, but when it's over don't expect to see much of me, I'll have a lot of research to catch up on!"  
"Then it's a deal, for the next two years Naruto will be absent and you will train him to the best of your abilities, upon his return he will take a small exam and be placed in the academy according to his grades. Jiraiya you shall receive money periodically so you can support Naruto, and nothing else." He said sternly. "Does everyone agree?" Both Jiraiya and Naruto smiled and shouted out an affirmative. "Then off with you!" Sarutobi smiled as he watched Jiraiya walk off at a brisk pace with the small Naruto running alongside. "I hope I made the right choice Minato."

"Before we go, let's get something to eat shall we?" Naruto's stomach growled hungrily.  
"Jiraiya-sensei, can we go to a ramen shop I know, the owner is real nice to me." The Sannin was happy that apparently someone had been nice to the small boy, Sarutobi's message had briefly explained how some of the adults behaved around the boy and honestly, Jiraiya thought he should go on a killing spree.  
"Sure Naruto, let's go and I'm only sensei when I'm teaching the rest of the time just Jiraiya is fine." Naruto flashed him a huge smile, then grabbed his hand and started pulling him along.  
"Come on old man, I'm hungry." Jiraiya was almost regretting taking him on, almost but not quite.  
"Hey Teuchi!" Naruto shouted out as he hopped up onto the stool. Jiraiaya had stopped for a moment to look at the sign, Ichiraku Ramen. He silently laughed as he remembered the forth's appetite for ramen, apparently some things were genetic.  
"Hey Naruto, it's been a while, what'll it be. Oh my, is that... Jiraiya-sama?"  
"Yeah, he's taking me on an adventure for a while so I'll be away, but I couldn't leave without saying goodbye to you old man."  
"Haha, it's a pleasure to meet you Jiraiya-san." Jiraiya looked at the old man sternly, analyzing him, trying to find any ulterior motives. His look sent chills down Teuchi's back.  
"Could we have a word in private Teuchi-san?"  
"Of course, Ayame, please take care of Naruto's order." A young woman walked over to the counter towards Naruto.  
"Well if it isn't Naruto, what will you be having today." Jiraiya followed Teuchi but stopped next to Ayame.  
"Give him whatever he wants I'll pay for it all."  
"Don't worry old man, I'll take care of the kid." She said with a large honest smile.

"I've heard a lot of things about how the adults treated the kid, is it true?" Jiraiya asked the Teuchi.  
"I don't know what you heard, but in general, a lot of the adults were cruel to him, those that weren't couldn't help out of fear of being reprimanded by those cruel bastards."  
"What about you?" Teuchi smiled.  
"I found the kid wandering the streets looking through trash cans searching for food when he was two or three. I don't care what people say, all I could see was a small hungry boy. I sat him on that very stool and served him a bowl of miso ramen. Nothing extravagant but the boy looked like I had offered him the world, I knew then that the other villagers were plain stupid, a small child like this couldn't hurt anyone, but they all believed he was a monster. Anyway, long story short, I taught him how to count and pay for things, I never told him but I always give him a discount." Jiraiya who had remained silent the whole time spoke up.  
"You're a good man Teuchi-san, thank you for caring for him."  
"Is it true he's going with you for a while?" The old man seemed almost worried.  
"Yes, it's in his best interest to get away from here until he can defend himself." Teuchi smiled, tears forming in his eyes.  
"I'll miss him, he's one of the most innocent things I've ever seen, but he needs to get away from here and these people, teach him well, I don't think he can read too well, his numbers are good and well, he has a big appetite so I hope you can feed him well." Jiraiya extended his hand.  
"Thank you for watching over him so diligently I'll take good care of him."Jiraiya and Teuchi returned to the front of the shop to see Naruto hiding behind a large pile of bowls.  
"Told you he had a big appetite." Jiraiya could already hear his wallet weeping.  
"I'll just have a bowl of pork ramen then we'll be off."  
"Yes sir." shouted Naruto before resuming his enormous meal.

Jiraiya and Naruto left behind a very happy Teuchi and Ayame, even thought the sage was quite a bit more lighter in the wallet department he had to admit, that was some good ramen. As they reached the gates someone called out to Naruto.  
"Hey Naruto, who's the old man?" The blond kid spun around instantly, recognizing the voice as that of Shikaramu's.  
"Hey there, this is Jiraiya, he's a super ninja or something like that, I'm going on an adventure for a while, so I won't be able to watch the clouds with you guys anymore, sorry."  
"Tch, sounds bothersome but we'll miss you Naruto. Have fun on your adventure." Shikamaru walked off hands behind his head and gazing up at the clouds,  
"He seems to be a good friend Naruto."  
"He's Shikamaru, if I'm lucky I can watch clouds with him and sometimes his friend Choji will share some snacks with me." Jiraiya was happy that the kid had managed to make some friends despite his situation.  
"Come on, we're falling behind schedule as it is."


	2. Chapter 2

**First of all I'd like to apologize for the delay, I had originally planned on posting this earlier but got swamped with work and what no. Anyway, once again sorry and happy reading.**

**Second of all I've decided I won't go into detail about what exactly went on with Jiraiya, there will be references and flashbacks but that's it I won't narrate a whole two years just for the sake of it, some people do, but I'm not one of those people! Also, if by any chance any of you readers think I should add something please don't hesitate to PM me and tell me your ideas!**

**Lastly big thanks to MYK-ON for the small but incredibly pleasing review it means a lot to me!**

**Also, I've changed Naruto's outfit from the canon, he starts off wearing the shippuden outfit, I just couldn't bring myself to use that much orange sorry guys and girls!**

**Now before people starting lynching me, on with the story!**

A young boy of about seven years of age strolled through the gates of Konoha in a late afternoon of spring, it had been a bit over two years since he had last seen the village and from the foot of the gates, it looked exactly the same. He breathed in deeply, cherishing the familiar scents. He was still reminiscing when a manly voice rudely called him back to the present.

"Young man, please identify yourself." The guards were a bit perplexed at the appearance of the young boy, he wore an orange jumpsuit with black stripes and around his left thigh was a kunai pouch. He wore a plain black bandana to keep his hair from falling into his eyes. All in all he looked very much like a ninja, yet he was so small.

"Naruto Uzumaki! I'm back from a trip with Jiraiya-sensei, I'm supposed to meet with the Hokage." The guards both looked at him intently for a moment before remembering the young pariah, neither of them thought anything of the boy though.

"Very well, off you go then." With a 'yatta' and an air punch Naruto made his way through the village.

He stopped halfway though as if remembering something. Snapping his fingers he spoke to himself.

"I should go say hi to Shikamaru and Choji." The young blond veered off course and set out for the small playground they used to frequent. He arrived only a few minutes later, it still surprised him how fast he could travel now that he could use chakra to make his legs go faster, although it tired him after a while Jiraiya said he would get better at it as he grew. Unfortunately for Naruto the playground was empty, he sighed and scratched the back of his head thinking of what to do when all of a sudden he heard crying coming from behind the trees next to the playground, a normal person wouldn't have been able to hear it but Naruto's hearing had always been better than most peoples. As curious as ever he stealthily made his way to the source of the sound. He crept up for almost a minute before he nearly fell over a small girl roughly his age. She was crouching on the ground facing away from him, her hair was long, reaching the small of her back and was a deep indigo color, she wore a beige jacket and blue track pants. She was sobbing quietly and shaking all over. Naruto decided he should make his presence known. *cough* The young girl startled violently and turned to face the boy, falling backwards in the process.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, but I heard you crying." The small girl bowed slightly and apologized.

"I didn't mean to draw attention, I shouldn't have been crying, it shows I'm weak and I have to be strong."

"Pfff, crying doesn't show that you're weak, if that was true I'd be really weak, I used to cry all the time when I was younger, but now Jiraiya says I'm really strong!"

"Tou-san says I'm weak, Hyuuga's shouldn't cry, and definitely not in public." At her own words Naruto saw her eyes fill up with tears, it was then he noticed her pupils were completely white.

"Wow, your eyes look so cool! By the way what's a Hyuuga?" Training with Jiraiya had not included history or political lessons, he had told Naruto they would focus only on ninja techniques. At his words she blushed then seemed confused, how could a boy from Konoha not know what a Hyuuga was.

"A Hyuuga, is a person from the Hyuuga clan, one of the most powerful clans of Konoha, we hold the Byakugan, unfortunately I'm too weak and can't use it properly."

"So? Can't you train and learn to use it?" His question surprised her but once again brought forth tears.

"I can't yet, and tou-san says that as future clan head I should be able to do it perfectly by now." Now it was Naruto who seemed surprised.

"You're a future clan head, that's so cool, it's like being a princess! Yeah you're a princess-" It was at this point Naruto realized he hadn't introduced himself. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, what is yours Hime-sama? He said with a formal bow, this caused the young girl to blush deeply.

"I'm not a princess and my name is Hinata. Nice to meet you Naruto-kun." The blond stood tall and scratched the back of his head.

"Well to me you are, so I shall call you Hinata-hime." He bowed once more although this time he winked at her, it was all in good humor and everyone involved laughed heartily.

The Sannin walked through the main gates and simply waved at the two guards who did their best to not stare this time. He then launched himself into the air and burst forth like a rocket towards the Hokage building.

"Wow." Both guards stood, mouths agape at the legend they had just seen for the second time in roughly two years. Jiraiya entered through the window to find the Hokage alone.

"Already sent him home did you?" Hiruzen was not pleased to see Jiraiya without Naruto, not pleased at all.

"Sent who home and where on earth is Naruto?" The Hokage's anger was starting to boil over.

"I sent him ahead by about half an hour, maybe a bit more and told him to come straight to you, didn't you see him?" Jiraiya had to admit he was a bit scared of the old man in front of him now.

"You fool, you spend two years with him and still don't know he's completely unpredictable and never does exactly what he's told. KAKASHI!" The hokage shouted the loudest he could manage. A puff of smoke and before him appeared the silver haired Jounin. "You two, go now, find Naruto and bring him here. When this is over Jiraiya, you and I shall have words." The Sannin gulped before racing off in search of his blond apprentice, he felt like a fresh genin around the old man sometimes. It was about twenty minutes later that Kakashi signaled the legendary toad sage to meet him at his location, the park. When he arrived Kakashi signaled for him to be silent, then they both stealthily slipped through the trees

The two powerful ninja came across a rather heartwarming scene, Hinata and Naruto were sitting, cross-legged across from each other, chatting and laughing like old friends.

"I need to get Naruto to the Hokage before he decides to skin me alive." Jiraiya whispered to Kakashi, who simply nodded in response. They both backed out of the small grove and stood out in the open in the park.

"Naruto, where are you gaki!" Jiraiya shouted, a second later Naruto emerged dragging by the hand a small frail looking girl, her eyes immediately told him that she was a Hyuuga. "Naruto didn't I tell you to go straight to the Hokage's place, now I'm in trouble. By the way who's your Hyuuga friend. Naruto puffed his chest and then spoke loudly, announcing to all around the park their presence.

"This is Hinata Hyuuga, she's a princess." Hinata blushed deeply at his words, quite conscious of the fact that her new friend had yet to let go of her hand.

"Naruto, I already told you, I'm not a princess." Both men smiled as the two children bickered about if she was or wasn't a princess. After a while Kakashi intervened.

"Well technically as heiress of the Hyuuga clan you are kind of like a princess."

"See told you, Kakashi is a ninja, so he knows all sorts of stuff like that."

"Come on Naruto, say goodbye to your friend." Slightly dejected Naruto hugged his friend.

"Bye Hinata-hime, I've got to go see the Hokage!" Still blushing from the hug Hinata waved as her new friend walked off.

"Bye N-n-naruto-kun."

"Well you sure make friends quick." Jiraiya commented to the blond jinchuriki. Quite suddenly the young boy looked older and wiser as if a hidden facet of his being was suddenly revealed.

"She was sad like I used to be, I know back then I would have liked a friend to make me laugh, I mean I had Shikamaru and Choji but it wasn't the same, I thought maybe I could make her smile like I would have liked to." Both ninja watched him carefully, the boy was entirely altruistic, he would willing give her everything just to see her smile, just to make her happy, so that she didn't end up hurt like he was. They had to admit it, they were proud of the blond boy.

"Come on, we shouldn't keep the Hokage waiting." Kakashi promptly interjected. All three sped off as fast as the smallest could go, which was still surprisingly fast for someone his age.

"Well here he is. No harm done, no need for punishments right sensei?" Jiraiya timidly asked.

"We will see about that last part, but first I would like to speak with Naruto."

"Yes Jiji-san." Ignoring his blatant disrespect Hiruzen continued.

"Well Naruto, Jiraiya here tells me you were to head straight for the Hokage office, what made you think you could ignore that order."

"Well, I'd been away for quite some time and wanted to see my friends so I went to the park where I usually met them, but they weren't there so I was about to come here when I heard someone crying. I followed the crying and found Hinata-hime, she's a princess by the way." All three men gently smiled at the boys words. "I knew as a future ninja it was my job to help people in distress so I went to help her out, she's really cool, she has blue-ish hair and real pale eyes." For the next five minutes or so Naruto went on and on about how cool and who exactly Hinata was. It was obvious for anyone listening that the boy was quite smitten about her, although didn't seem to completely know it yet.

"Very well Naruto, everything is fine, you did well to help a fellow citizen of Konoha, and yes it is one of the duties of a ninja, but for now you are not a ninja. Now Naruto I've prepared a small place where you can stay, it is out of reach for pretty much anyone not a ninja, Kakashi-san will take you there alright." Naruto had to admit he was pretty tired, and REALLY hungry at the moment and going home seemed like a nice idea. "Oh and Naruto, I stocked up your home with some food, just try not to eat it all at once alright." Naruto nodded and followed Kakashi out of the building.

"Well it seems he's rather fond of this Hinata Hyuuga, even saying she's a princess, I assume by that he means she's a clan heiress." Jiraiya nodded.

"To him it's the same, I'd try not to separate those two if possible." At this Hiruzen took on a serious face.

"There are certain steps I can take to ensure those two stick together, I am after all Hokage."

"What are you thinking of sensei?" The hokage simply smiled and gestured that the conversation was over. Jiraiya sighed and gave up, there was no pressing the issue once Hiruzen decided that was it.

"Now tell me Jiraiya, what did you teach Naruto, besides how to conquer a woman's heart in 30 seconds flat." he joked and Jiraiya oddly looked proud.

"You'll find he's quite good, I'd dare to bet that he might come out even better than his father, and we both know that that's saying something."

"Give me all the details, I want to know everything."

Naruto was soundly asleep in his bed when he was quite rudely awoken with a bucket of extremely cold water, at a very early hour of the morning. The resulting cry scared off all the birds in a two kilometer radius and woke a great deal of people as well. Five minutes later Naruto was eating a light breakfast composed of a couple of slices of toast and butter with a tall glass of milk.

"Darn it Naruto, I think you deafened me in one ear." Jiraiya swore again.

"It's your fault for waking me up like that, I thought I could get at least one good night's sleep before you would continue your torture." Jiraiya sighed and Naruto interrupted his meal once again to look up at him quizzically. "What's the matter Jiraiya-sensei?"

"That's the thing Naruto, I'm no longer your sensei, from now on you will attend the Ninja Academy, you will learn from other sensei's and become a genin once you have completed the four years."

"But I really like training with you." Jiraiya smiled, despite his continuous complaints it always seemed as though he did truly enjoy every painful moment of training.

"Here is what we'll do, I have some very important tasks to accomplish, but in the mean time you can train hard and make friends, I'll also give you some homework I prepared for you during the night." He handed Naruto a large scroll. "This is a scroll of a whole lot of Jutsu's and other useful information, I want you to learn everything by the time I get back in a few years, some of the stuff will be hard, if you're stuck on one just move along and come back to it after you've learned some more basics, you'll see, you'll be powerful in no time at all." Naruto quickly jumped up and hugged the toad sage.

"I'll miss you Jiraiya-sensei."

"Not sensei anymore, just -san. You little gaki, you better hurry, school starts in half an hour, better run."

"You'll see, when you get back I'll show you just how strong Uzumaki Naruto truly is." He shouted shoving his thumb against his chest.

Jiraiya ran out the door waving goodbye, holding back a stray tear.

"Dammit, I really have gotten too attached to the boy. You better look after him sensei, or else I'll be the one to skin you."

Naruto wolfed down the rest of his meal, quickly changed and checked his kunai pouch, once everything was in check he ran out of his apartment, locking it behind him with the key Kakashi had given him. He made it to the school with only a minute to spare. Jiraiya had told him earlier that he would meet up with his class in room 1-B he walked there and breathed deeply before opening the door, before him stood a chuunin, his skin was tan and his black hair was tied up and stood up, sort of like a pineapple, one of the most notable features was the scar across his face, passing across the bridge of his nose and beneath both eyes.

"Well you must be Naruto Uzumaki, am I correct?"

"Yes." Suddenly all of Naruto's usual flair had vanished, he felt quite small all of a sudden and really nervous.

"Well come in, introduce yourself to the class." Naruto walked in, he was sweating profusely and his vision blurring, he stopped in front of the black board and turned to face his class.

"Hello, my name is Uzumaki Naruto, I've been away the past two years but I've returned to attend classes here at the academy. Please treat me kindly." He bowed slightly and slowly looked at the faces, suddenly he felt much better, some of them were familiar. There in the front row was Choji, trying to eat chips as discreetly as possible despite the ban of food in class rooms. A row behind him, next to the window was Shikamaru, he seemed awake but Naruto could immediately tell he was asleep, same old Shikamaru he chuckled to himself. But what most caught his attention and caused him to openly smile was the person sitting in the back row, her pale eyes were unmistakable and her beautiful indigo hair, he would recognize anywhere. Hinata Hyuuga, his princess.

"Well Naruto, we are glad to meet you, how about going and taking a seat, you can ask your classmates to fill in the blanks if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. You shall address me as Iruka-sensei while on school grounds or on field trips but otherwise you can use -san." Naruto nodded and ran up the stairs to sit next to Hinata, he slowly leaned sideways and whispered to her.

"Hello, Hinata-hime." She blushed slightly and responded.

"Hello, Naruto-kun."

The classes that day were among the most boring things Naruto had ever had to endure, it was all about history and politics and clans and boring stuff. He silently fumed, grumbling something along the lines of how that stuff didn't matter, and he couldn't be happier when it ended and Iruka told them they could leave. Naruto stood and was about to run off at full speed when he remembered that Hinata was just next to him, so instead he silently waited for her to pick up her things. They both left the building only to be stopped by by two long haired girls, one had pink hair the other blond, a few boys seemed to be hovering around the area, listening in, although not directly participating.

"Hello there Naruto, my name is Sakura Haruno," said the pink haired girl, "and this is Ino Yamanaka." She added gesturing to the blond next to her. "I heard you were off training with Jiraiya, the legendary Sannin, is it true?"

"Yeah I guess so." Naruto responded unsure of how to answer.

"You must be really strong then..." Her voiced seemed to drone on and Naruto had trouble concentrating on what on earth she was talking about, it seemed she could just talk forever without stopping for breath, it was then that he noticed that Hinata was no longer by his side. Panic swept over him in an instant, he frantically looked around in search of her, she was slowly walking away towards the gate without him, her head hung low. Naruto pushed past Sakura and the blond girl whose name he had already forgotten and run up to her.

"Hinata-hime, where are you going?" Without turning she answered.

"I don't want to get in the way of you making friends." She then continued walking off, Naruto could have sworn she was crying but before he could go after her someone grabbed his shoulder.

"Hey Naruto that was rude pushing past us like that." Sakura said.

"Yeah, you should apologize." Ino added. Naruto was starting to feel anger boil inside him, his princess was crying and these petty girls were stopping him from going to her.

"Sorry, I have to go catch up to Hinata-hime." Both girls exchanged a look then burst out laughing. "What's so funny?"

"I'm sorry it's just, Hinata isn't a princess, I mean sure she's an heiress, but a pretty useless one at that, I mean-" Before Sakura could finish her sentence there was a loud rushing noise, and fraction of an inch away from Sakura's face was Naruto's fist. He had stopped short of hitting her. Everyone had turned to look now, even Hinata who had almost passed through the gate. When Naruto looked Sakura in the eyes she began to tremble. There was something feral about him. Dangerous, was all her mind could communicate to her.

"If you ever insult my Hime again, next time I won't hold back." His voice no longer sounded like that of a young boy, but more like the voice of a feral beast, a snarl or a growl even, the meaning was clear: Don't touch and the threat was not only to Sakura, everyone understood, don't touch Hinata if you wanted to keep your nose intact, and they sensed he could go much further. Naruto pulled back his fist and turned on his heel. He walked over to Hinata and bowed slightly.

"Let's go Hinata-hime." and with that he grabbed her hand and practically dragged her away. Everyone just stood there, uncertain of what to do next, some even wondering if it was safe or if the yellow haired boy was going to come back and start beating people. One thing that everyone knew at that point was that nothing could happen to Hinata as long as Naruto was around.

Naruto led Hinata to the small park where they had met the day before.

"I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings Hinata-hime. I really didn't mean it. I just wasn't sure what to do, they just... kept talking." Hinata giggled and Naruto couldn't help but smile. "I mean seriously for a moment I started to believe she didn't need to breathe, bla bla bla bla. Ultimate Bla Jutsu, Never Ending Breath." Then Naruto did his best Sakura impression, which made Hinata laugh even harder.

"Naruto-kun, you don't have to use -hime for me, it's embarrassing." Naruto gave her a bow.

"But you are my princess." His words caused her to blush deeply. No one had ever treated her so nicely before, even among her family, especially among her family. Her heart warmed when he was around her, she would get a tingling feeling deep inside her chest and she couldn't help but stare at him, it was almost as if she... The thought that went through her mind made her freeze, it couldn't be, she had just met him. She could feel the blood reaching up to her face as a deep blush spread across her features.

"Hinata-hime, are you alright?" Hinata couldn't take it anymore and promptly fainted. In that instant Naruto, as innocent and naive as he was, panicked, he had no idea what to do so he did the only thing he could. He picked her up and made his way, faster than he had ever moved before towards the Hokage's office. The silver haired jounin spying on them cursed under his breath as he had to move exceptionally fast in order to keep up with the yellow haired flash.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey there everyone, sorry it took so long to publish, still trying to get a rhythm working, I promise to do better next time, in the mean time here is chapter 3! Also just to make it clear, Naruto arrived a few weeks after school started so there is stuff he needs to catch up on.**

**Big shout out to all the people who encourage me and ask me to update! It really warms the heart! **

Naruto burst through the window of the Hokage's office, surprising the old man and spreading papers all over the place.

"What is the meaning of this Naruto!" The Hokage shouted out before realizing he was carrying Hinata's limp form. "What happened Naruto."

"I don't know, we were in the park and then suddenly she collapsed, luckily I managed to save her before she could get hurt."

"Why on earth did you bring her here?"

"I don't know, I guess I sort of panicked the people at the hospital aren't very nice to me so I thought maybe the Hokage would help me instead. I'm sorry I wasn't thinking." It was obvious to Hiruzen that the most important thing in the world at the moment to the boy was the girl in his arms.

"Very well Naruto, I'll excuse you this once, but next time, please do go to the hospital, they'll treat you better next time, I promise." He made a mental note to have a serious talk with the hospital staff. "In the mean time, lay her down on the couch and I'll get someone to bring us some tea." Naruto nodded and placed his sleeping princess on the couch, he then sat down on the floor next to her and simply watched her, the world seemed to melt away as he watched her, all past pains gone, any momentary troubles forgotten. Hiruzen watched as the boy detached himself from the world around him, focusing entirely on the small girl in front him. Without leaving the boy with his eyes he signaled for Kakashi to enter quietly. This was not a difficult feat for the man.

"Bring us some tea." The third Hokage whispered to the jounin. Any other day the man would have refused claiming it beneath him, after all he was an infamous assassin jounin, feared and respected by many, yet strangely he didn't want to disturb Naruto or the young girl so he simply nodded and set off to make a pot of tea for the Hokage. Some time later the man returned with some tea, although some would argue as to how well one could describe it as tea, killing was something the silver haired jounin was good at, tea making was most evidently not.

"Have they moved at all?" Kakashi asked his Hokage who shrugged.

"She's stirred a couple of times, each time Naruto seems to be ready to move at a moments notice, but then she calms down and so does he, it's quite... intriguing."

"Shall I wake her now?" After a minute or so the Hokage finally answered.

"As much as I hate to bother them, I feel as if we will be here for a while." Kakashi nodded and walked forth, almost regretting his decision to awaken the sleeping heiress, he pulled out a smelling salt and briefly passed it under her nose, although Naruto scowled at his obvious disturbance of his Hime's nap, Naruto was still relieved when Hinata's eyes fluttered open, only to see Naruto staring at her intently. She blushed deeply, indicating to both Hiruzen and Kakashi exactly how she felt about the boy. Now all they needed was for him to notice, but both men knew his father and how dense he had been around Kushina, this was going to take a while.

"Hime, you fainted so I brought you to the Hokage, I mean you are a princess so I knew the Hokage would help! He even made tea for us." Hinata immediately rose and bowed to the elderly man.

"I'm sorry for any inconvenience I may have caused Hokage-sama." The old man chuckled at the sweet girls mannerisms.

"It's quite alright dear, Naruto simply feared for your safety, I've told him to take you to the hospital next time it occurs so don't worry. But may I ask what caused your small fainting spell Hinata?" Hinata immediately blushed as she remembered her thoughts prior to fainting.

"Nothing, it was hot outside and I was dizzy and then fainted. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again." With those words she suddenly turned and ran out the door like a frightened rabbit. Before Naruto could chase after her, Kakashi appeared next to him and held him back.

"Hinata knows her way home and it's bright out, how about you stay and chat for a moment." Naruto slumped down onto the couch. "How about telling us how your day went?"

"It was BORING, all that history and politics and boring stuff, I thought ninja academy was all about ninja stuff not stupid boring names and dates." This time it was Sarutobi who spoke.

"History teaches us many things, the errors we committed and the successes as well, it's important for everyone to know at least some of our history, that way it is, to a certain extent, never truly, lost." Naruto nodded as he understood what the Hokage meant.

"But it's still boring." Hiruzen sighed, he was getting nowhere.

"I think there was more to your day than that, wasn't there Naruto?" For a moment the blond boy seemed confused then he slowly realized what the silver haired man meant.

"I got into a fight with a couple of the other students. But they started it, and we didn't really fight I just sort of shouted at them a bit..." Despite his earlier tenacity and rage, now he seemed quiet and almost ashamed at what he had done. He despised people who lashed out at others for no reason and he now realized he had done the same.

"I can see you disapprove of your own actions, this is good, humility is important. Can you tell me Naruto, what caused your anger?"

"They insulted Hinata-hime, said she was a useless heir or something like that, I just got so mad."

"I can understand getting upset when a friend is insulted, but fighting among ourselves as ninja just cannot be tolerated therefore Naruto what will you do tomorrow?"

"I'll apologize, gotta go gramps, got homework, it's really boring. Ja ne." and with that the hyperactive blond ran off.

"Tell me Kakashi, what's the situation with the Hyuuga clan, I must admit I'm a bit behind in the reports."

"Well Hokage-sama, it appears as though Hinata is the heir but that Hiashi wants to change that and make his youngest Hanabi the heir in her stead. He believes that Hinata is too weak-willed to be of any use to the clan. Of course none of this has been announced officially yet."

"Very well you are dismissed Kakashi." With a quick bow the silver haired jounin flickered out of the room. "Well it seems some extra training is needed, who shall I call upon now." He sat there in his office for a few hours, thinking over and over about who he should task with Hinata's training, it was late at night when finally the answer came to him. On a signal an Anbu popped into the room.

"I have an assignment for you Anbu-san."

"Yes Hokage-sama."

The next morning Naruto awoke slowly, crawling out of bed until he came nose-to-screen with his alarm clock.

"NANI?" it had failed to go off, or Naruto had just ignored it, he was running late and would have to skip out breakfast if he hoped to make it in time. "Damn it damn it damn it." He mumbled and shouted as he got dressed and packed his bag. He was in such a rush by the time he left that he barely slowed to slam the door shut behind him. He dashed over the rooftops of Konoha, scaring some ninja who had been enjoying the quiet morning. He raced across the school grounds and ran the best he could up the wall of the building, jumped, flipped and landed soundly on the window sill. Iruka turned to him with a stern look on his face and pointed to the clock which indicated that he was a minute late.

"Kuso!" Naruto swore loudly, stunning a couple of ninja who had been raised to not utter such words in public.

"Well Naruto, I have to admit, its obvious you tried your best to get here on time so I'll excuse you this time, but make sure it never happens again."

"Yes Iruka-sensei."

"Now go take a seat I was just about to begin explaining the next part of the course." Silently he walked up the aisle and took a seat next to Hinata, who immediately blushed a bright shade of red.

"Are you alright Hinata-hime?" She nodded at his question but stared straight at Iruka, almost as if she were intentionally avoiding making eye contact with the blond boy. Naruto thought it was off but passed it off as being "good student behavior".

"Well class, today is a big today, over the past few weeks you've received an introduction to the ninja world, now we take your first steps into it. Our first class will be Taijutsu lesson, I may not be Might Guy but I know a bit about taijutsu. Come on, let's go outside for this class. The small class followed them outside on their way though Naruto stopped Sakura and Ino.

"Hey, I just wanted to say sorry for yesterday, I was being a jerk." Both girls smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

"It's fine, now let's go." Naruto smiled as the two girls accepted him and all three ran to catch up with the rest of the class.

"Well, knowing some of you are from clans, some of you already know a bit of taijutsu so we will skip the theory and move straight onto practice, now take this stance...

Several hours later everyone was tiring, but it was Naruto who was feeling worse, having skipped breakfast he was not yet used to forgoing meals. Later in life it would be something he could easily overcome, but in his still growing years of childhood, such deprivation left him feeling light headed and tired. As the training came to an end Iruka looked around at the tired children.

"OK, to finish it up we'll have a final sparring match, what do you kids think?" Despite their obvious fatigue their eyes all lit up at the thought. With a smile Iruka announced the two contenders.

"Well how about Naruto, you could show what you learned from Jiraiya and..." He looked at the children closely trying to find an interesting match, what he didn't know was that he was about to create the greatest rivalry ever recorded in shinobi history, one that would rival even that of Madara and Hashirama. "And how about Sasuke." The dark haired boy merely grunted his disapproval of having to fight someone who he considered beneath him. Naruto on the other hand was excited at the idea of putting his skills to the test. Both leaped forward into the ring before Iruka and took up their respective taijutsu stances. On Iruka's signal both boys leaped at each other in a flurry of blows. It was obvious in the first second that Naruto had more strength whereas Sasuke had speed on his side. The battle was not what you could call a battle between proper shinobi, there was a lot of extra movements and openings everywhere, Iruka-sensei silently took note of the boys flaws and strengths so as to help them improve, it was apparent the two were quite well matched, but Naruto was tiring and making mistakes more and more. Under Hinata's caring gaze Naruto used up the last of his strength to punch Sasuke in the gut, the raven haired boy struck Naruto on the jaw in response and both fell over. A moment later it was Sasuke who got back up, Naruto stayed down though.

"Naruto-kun!" A usually silent Hinata shouted out as she ran towards the boy. Iruka on the other hand didn't seem too worried and bent over Naruto, examining him.

"He'll be fine, he just seems exhausted that's all. OK class, go and eat, Hinata and I will take care of Naruto, Sasuke do you need any medical assistance."

"Tch, I'm not that weak." The chunnin could see the boy struggling to stand, but seeing as how he was hiding it from the other students decided to not say anything. Iruka picked up the blond jinchuuriki and made his way to the infirmary with Hinata following close behind.

Naruto opened his eyes to see his sensei and a very worried Hinata.

"Well Naruto, it's good to see you are finally awake. How do you feel?"

"REALLY HUNGRY." He practically shouted out. His stomach made it even clearer by growling its displeasure at being empty. "I had to skip breakfast in order to get here on time. And even then I was late." Iruka looked at him sternly.

"You're still a student, next time tell me and I can get you a quick snack before we start ok?"

"Yes sensei."

"Now I'll leave you in Hinata's care." And with that the tall chunnin left the infirmary.

"Naruto-kun. You should be more careful with your health."

"I'm sorry if you worried Hinata-hime." She shook her head and opened her bag withdrawing a boxed lunch.

"I looked in you bag, but didn't find a lunch box, did you forget to pack one Naruto-kun?" At this Naruto was slightly embarrassed.

"I didn't make one, I don't know how to cook and didn't have time to bring a snack."

"It's not much but I could share if you want." Naruto nodded eagerly and the two shared her lunch. The two children sat peacefully, laughing together as they talked, the heartwarming sight was not lost on the silver haired jounin and the Anbu watching over them.

"It's cute isn't it." The jounin said, the anbu silently nodded and disappeared to Kakashi. "Goddammit, now I'm hungry too. Oh well, I guess I can go get a quick bite and leave those two alone for a bit." And with that he flickered out of the tree next to the school, leaving the two children completely alone,

Later that afternoon after class Naruto stopped as he heard his name called out by a voice he didn't recognize. He turned to see the raven haired kid he had fought earlier on.

"Naruto right?" The blond boy stood in awe.

"OH MY GOD, you do speak!" Sasuke slightly blushed at this.

"You dobe of course I speak."

"Well teme maybe if you said something more than tss or tch then people would know that."

"Shut up, I just wanted to say you weren't too bad... for a dobe that is... I heard you hadn't eaten so next time gather your strength before I kick you ass otherwise it's too easy." With a smirk and one of his trademark grunts he walked off.

"That idiot, I'm gonna show him! But first." He turned to his pale eyes companion.

"Hinata-hime I know it's not princess food but do you want to come eat some ramen with me? I'll pay." Hinata blushed at the thought.

"Th-that would be great Naruto-kun." The hyperactive blond grabbed her hand and ran off practically dragging her behind him.

"Hey Teuchi-san." Naruto shouted as he jumped up onto one of the stools of the shop,.

"Naruto. So good to see you again!. And you brought a cute little Hyuuga girl as well, not everyday we see one of your clan in our establishement." The Hyuuga girl gave a slight bow before seating herself next to Naruto. "What'll it be you two?"

"I'll have pork, Hinata-hime what do you want?"

"I-I'll have the miso thank you very much."

"Very well, one miso and one pork coming up." Naruto and Hinata sat in silence as the older man turned to start making the ramen. Unknowing to Naruto who was deep in thought, Hinata kept glancing at the blond boy.

"I don't understand, I can't stop thinking about Hinata-hime, she's so cute and smart. Why did I get so mad yesterday, I don't like people picking on others but if it had been Choji or Shika, I know I wouldn't have reacted the same." He thought to himself. As the meal went on in silence with Hinata now openly staring at the boy, Naruto deep in thought and Ayame and Teuchi looking smugly at the two something stirred. It went unnoticed by all, even the person it resided within. But nonetheless it stirred from a deep slumber, awake and observant.

"Now what to do?" It said to itself before watching the world around him through the eyes of its host. "Interesting."


End file.
